Mycotoxin Survey 2014 – Focus on Russian Poultry and Swine Feed

Date: 2015-06-15

A new technology promises to revolutionize the simultaneous detection of mycotoxins and greatly expand our scientific knowledge. The tool’s power and accuracy allow for more refined detection of a greater number of mycotoxins and metabolites than ever before.

Next-generation mass spectrometry provides a more detailed picture of the contamination of different feed materials and poses the direction of future research. This year, the State Scientific Institution All-Russian Poultry Research and Technology Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences will implement the strategy of multiple mycotoxin detection to help better understand threats to livestock.

Mycotoxins are fungal metabolites toxic to animals and humans produced by common molds found in almost all types of grains. The survey results provide an insight on the incidence of aflatoxins (Afla), zearalenone (ZEN), deoxynivalenol (DON), fumonisins (FUM) and ochratoxin A (OTA). The main samples analyzed from Russia were finished feed for poultry and swine.

Livestock in Russia face the highest threat to T-2 toxin, DON, FUM and aflatoxins as the average concentrations are above the risk threshold levels (Figure 1).

Within the ten-year experience in the field of mycotoxin occurrence, Biomin has shown that co-occurrence of mycotoxins is the rule and not the exception. The presence of more than one toxin may intensify the negative effects on the animal. As illustrated in figure 2, 97% of all samples from Russia were contaminated and 90% showed co-contamination with more than one mycotoxin.

Figure 2: Co-occurrence of mycotoxins in Russia

Compared to the previous year, the percentage of samples that were positive for ZEN increased ten-fold from 8% to 80%. The average concentration of ZEN also increased by 10%. In 2014, there was an increase of 18% of samples that contain T-2 toxin. The average level of T-2 toxin also increased by 25% compared to the previous year.

A mycotoxin binder is a substance that is added to animal feed in small quantities in order to trap mycotoxins, preventing them from entering the blood stream where they can cause serious harm to your...

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